1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of information administration and, more particularly, to user-specific information services.
2. Description of the Related Art
The storage and availability of different types of personal information is prompting increased privacy concerns. Users have a need to collect and store their personal information while also having ready access to the information. One of the manners in which information may be stored and retrieved more easily is through the use of electronic storage media. Users can store information such as bank records, medical records, credit card information, and the like on media. Unless the media is available to be accessed from different locations, however, the users must either carry the media with them or must permit access to the media from different locations. The latter situation results in concerns by the users that their personal information will not remain private and can be accessed without their permission.
This concern is especially true for medical records. Patient records need to be available for reference at their current doctors' offices, at any hospital where a patient is admitted or goes for outpatient treatment, and, for some limited purposes, at health insurance companies. At the current time, copies of private medical information are commonly scattered over different locations. In many of these instances, critical documents or images in hardcopies might even be lost, unavailable, or temporarily misplaced.
In all instances, doctors, hospitals, and health insurance employees all have to be trusted to have adequate computer and physical security over this medical information. Additionally, records may remain in the possession of particular doctors long after a patient has changed doctors and/or insurance companies, with no real need or incentive for those doctors or companies to provide access, maintain the confidentiality of this information, or ensure its security. The end result is that patients currently have no control over enabling and limiting access to their private medical information.
Currently, there is only limited physical security for many paper records at doctors' offices. For computer records, there are no guarantees, and limited regulatory requirements mandating that these records be kept secure from unauthorized personnel and/or hackers. Further, as many people have illnesses or conditions that they wish to remain private, this lack of security may result in exclusion from a job, affordable insurance, or embarrassing circumstances for these individuals should their private medical information become accessed by someone without the individual's permission.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a system and method that would permit a patient to access their own medical records. It would also be beneficial to provide a system and method that would permit a patient to control who could view their medical records as well as how such persons or entities would be able to view such information. It would also be beneficial to provide a system and method that would increase security over a patient's medical records consistent with local government regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in the United States.